Prince of Death
by mistynightwish
Summary: A queen gazed out her window at the snow.   "Oh, I wished I had a child with hair black like ebony, soft as silk. Skin pale as snow. Eyes black as coal. Lips pale as-wait! I messed up!"  But it was too late.
1. Chapter 1

A queen gazed out her window, trying to follow the snowflakes as they drifted past her window. She sighed and placed her sewing pad into her lap. There was a jolt and the queen placed her hand onto her stomach already a few months into pregnancy.

"Oh, I wish I had a child with hair black like ebony, soft like silk. Skin pale as snow. Eyes black as coal. Lips pale as- wait! I messed up!"

But it was too late.

The midwife held the child up and into the waiting arms of Queen Maria di Angelo. The baby had black silky hair, pale skin and lips and deep black eyes. To top it off, it was a boy.

Maria sighed in disappointment.

"King Justin will not be happy. I wonder who will marry his second son."

She looked down at her only son and couldn't help holding a loving smile back.

"I guess I'll name you Nico. Prince Nico di Angelo. Second child and first son of Queen Maria di Angelo. Heir to the throne of the country Venice."

**Sorry for the short chapter. Hopefully I'll find some time to add more. **


	2. Chapter 2

"Mommy! Can I see my baby sister now?" The door was thrown open and little Bianca di Angelo- two years of age- bounded in, eager to lay her beautiful dark brown eyes on her sister. A flustered maid ran in and awkwardly bowed.

"Your majesty! I'm so sorry. But princess was so excited that-" Maria held up her hand.

"Thank you very much for watching Bianca, Alecto. Oh, may you fetch the mail for me?" Alecto smiled, bowed more gracefully and hurried out to carry her duties. Bianca peeked into the crib besides the bed, and frowned.

"Mommy, that's not a girl."

The queen laughed and pulled her daughter up onto her lap, "I know dear. This is your little brother, Nico."

Bianca sighed. "Then who will I play with?"

"You can always play with your brother, dearest."

"But Nico is a BOY."

Queen Maria paused and gave her an option, "There's always Princess Annabeth from Virginia. Anyways, she only cares about buildings!" Bianca slid off her mother and slinked out, her face scrunched up in disappointment.

_Seven months later…_

Maria opened the last letter on her desk, and as she read it, her eyes shone with happiness.

_Your Royal Highness, _

_ Greetings. News has traveled to Vietnam about your baby boy. I now give you good news- I have a child, a baby girl, a princess. She was born just a few months ago. With your permission, and the grace of the Gods, our children may be betrothed, and on the day of my child's birth date, married. Please reply so I may arrange a day when we can meet._

_ King Quang IV, of Vietnam_

She quickly replied.

_ My lord,_

_ I have pondered on your request and accept it. I am free during the summer. May the gods be with you._

_ Queen Maria di Angelo, Ruler of Venice_

Her heart beat faster. Venice was one of the main trading posts in the world and she has seen many of the wondrous things her country traded with Asia… spices, silk and exotic animals… She could hardly wait!

_A few months later…_

A trumpet sounded through the courtyard and dancers began creeping in. Horses came in with people on the back, each playing an instrument of a sort. The music reminded the queen of a mysterious land, full of treasure and mystery… one by one, women clothed in white, tight dresses began laying gifts in front of Maria. She bent down and looked into a basket; a cricket hopped out and jumped into the crowd. There was a huge commotion as the commoners of Venice moved out of the way for an elephant. The creature stopped a few meters away from the royal family and a man climbed off the back. As he neared, the queen saw that he was, in fact, quite handsome. He had tan skin and brown hair, swept to the side. His hazel eyes shone with excitement. He wore gold and red clothing, similar to what the women wore, but much more bigger.

"Your highness, I am King Quang of Vietnam. I come to show you your future daughter in law."

With that, a older lady came forth and placed a bundle into the King's hands. Quang carefully unwrapped the outer layer and soon, the queen was staring at the biggest brown eyes she had ever seen.

"My, she's quite a sight my lord." Maria complimented.

"Thank you. This is Princess Tuyet. She's year old."

Maria turned and called for her children. Alecto led them out. Both Bianca and Nico bounded toward the strange man in bright colors.

"Hello sir! Who are you? Why do you wear such funny clothing?" they chirped. Their mother pulled them back and apologized to Quang.  
"Quite all right my queen; my child is like that, too."

Maria held out her arms and he placed Tuyet in her arms. Tuyet was such a small child! A year old, but still wrapped in blankets. She better grow up to be a strong wife, or the town will not approve. But oh well… this was an Asian family. Imagine much more rich Venice would be with more rare items!

Later that night, the queen and king sat in the common room by themselves and they began to talk.

"Are you one of those countries, your highness?" Quang asked, carrying Tuyet while taking a sip out of the delicious red wine.

"Yes. In fact I am. Are you?"

King Quang looked around and leaned in, "Yes. But no one knows of it."

Maria looked confused.

"What are you talking about?"

Out of all the many countries in the world, there are thirteen that have either no queen or king. If a queen was ruling, there was no king to accompany her, and vice versa. Nobody knows why, and quite frankly, no one cares. But the children of the king or queen would have strange powers. One may have power over water; one may have power over the sky. They lived dangerous lives, fighting for themselves and their country. They were trained at a young age to defend themselves; with sword, bow and arrow or knifes. Anything to keep them safe. But what surprised the queen was that usually the thirteen countries knew everything about each other, and they knew when a child was born. Maria knew the other twelve countries, and she was pretty sure that Vietnam was not part of it.

"There are a few goddesses that… promised that they would never marry…" his voice trailed off and Maria gasped quietly.

"Hestia?"

Tuyet then opened her eyes and Maria saw her dark brown eyes turn flaming red.

**Sorry if this chapter was confusing. You can always PM me if you don't understand it!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Her… her eyes." Maria whispered. King Quang nodded and held his daughter close.

"No one knows about her and quite frankly, I would like to keep it that way. If Zeus were to find out…" he closed his eyes. They sat in silence; the queen didn't know what to say. She held out her slender arms and Quang placed Tuyet into them. She gently rocked the child and Tuyet let out a soft sigh.

"If Zeus finds out… he wouldn't hesitate to kill her…" she whispered, watching her future daughter in law sleep. _I will protect her_, Maria decided. _She will be safe from all harm._

One year later….

King Quang and his party left back to Vietnam where Tuyet would grow to learn and defend herself. Maria spent every day trying to make her children the perfect leaders. One night though, she was reading a letter from King Leroy of some lower kingdom, trying to get one of his sons to marry Bianca. Maria laughed and threw the letter into the fire. There was a rustle by the bookshelf and she stared suspiciously at it. The queen, brave as she was, crept closer, holding her letter opener up dangerously. She looked behind the shelf and let out a scream.

No one knows what happened to the beautiful queen, or how she died. Alecto came in her room the next morning to lay out her gown and found her majesty, lying on the floor, her dress covering her face. People of Venice say that it was a demon; that the queen had displeased the gods. Her children were given away to farmers in Asia, far away from Venice to protect them from whoever the killer was. There, the children grew up, forgetting about their royal blood. Instead of learning to defend them, Bianca learned how to farm, Nico learned how to hunt.

It was years since the death of Queen Maria di Angelo, and Nico, her only son was riding in the woods. Nico loved riding; the feeling of the wind his face, the feeling of freedom. His horse, Darkmoon, whinnied and they galloped down a steep path. Nico threw his head back and laughed, his beautiful soft hair flying around. He tightened the knot on his quiver so it wouldn't fall off. Darkmoon stopped by the creek to get a drink and rest. Nico lay on his horse's back, feeling the heartbeat and the slow breathing of the magnificent creature. Suddenly, he felt the horse tense and there was a rustling noise in the bushes. Nico slowly got up and quietly grabbed his bow and an arrow from his quiver. There was a crackling noise on his left; he slowly turned in a circle, his arrow at ready. Darkmoon whinnied and Nico turned-a little too late. Someone tackled him from behind and they tumbled into the creek. Water splashed wildly, drenching Nico and his attacker to the core. He gasped for air and his arrow flew somewhere. Somehow during the fight they had ended up on land. The person had their sword on his neck and Nico breathed in and out slowly, scared that he might cut himself by moving too much.

"You're trespassing the area of the Royal Pham family. Did you know that?" Nico let out a groan and the person let him go. He gasped and breathed in a few times, turning over to see the attacker. She had long layered black hair with an orange and yellow streak at the sides. Her skin had a nice tan. Her eyes were dark, beautiful brown the flickered red sometimes. He glared at her, "No I didn't. You didn't have to attack me for doing that. How am I supposed to know where this is? I'm just a farmer's son!" Nico got up and looked at her in the eyes. Gods, they were pretty. She raised an eyebrow.

"I needed some practice. I've been stuck in the palace the past few days and I've been itching to go out in the sun again!"

"The palace?"

She cocked her head and gave him a sly smile.

"You don't know me?"

"Well, you certainly aren't my sister."

She laughed a beautiful laugh that made Nico want to chuckle, too. But he held it back and nodded.

"I'm Princess Tuyet of Vietnam."

**Sorry if this chapter was a bit rushed. I tried to get to the point faster. And for not posting… let's say homework takes up a lot of my time. **


	4. Chapter 4

There were times where Nico would laugh and say something like, "And yeah, I'm Apollo." But his tongue got stuck and he stared at the princess.

"I'll take you home, come on." She held out her hand and Nico grabbed it, surprised the warmth of her touch.

"You're the princess?"

She nodded, "You've never seen me?"

"My parents did."

"Do your parents work in the rice fields?" Nice nodded. "We have an overload of rice."

Tuyet cracked a smile as Nico climbed onto Darkmoon. "You can ride too, your majesty."

"No need to call me your majesty or anything. Tuyet is fine." She grabbed his hand and jumped on behind him, almost falling, shocked from the ice coldness of his hand. Darkmoon began to trot toward Nico's house and Tuyet looked around the thick jungle in awe. Nico turned and looked at the princess. She looked vaguely familiar. Like he'd seen her before. She held her hand out and a monkey jumped on, grinning madly at her.

"Cute." She murmured, stroking the monkey's fur.

"You've never been out to the jungle this far, have you?" Nico asked as Darkmoon slowed down. Tuyet shook her head.

"My dad wants to protect me. I have no idea why though. He says someone wants to kill me, but I think it's pretty cliché." She snorted. The horse stopped in front of a house of bamboo and other natural materials. Nico's mother, Huong was standing by the door looking extremely worried.

"Nico! Where were you?"

"Sorry mom. I was taking Darkmoon out for a ride." He turned and smiled at the princess.

"Nico Pham."

"Nico meeting you, Nico." She hopped off the horse and bowed at Huong.

"Same time same place?" Nico nodded. With that, she backed off into the trees and there was a flash of orange, like fire. Nico dropped his quiver and raced to the grove where Tuyet just stood and saw nothing, nobody. No sign of fire.

Tuyet dropped into her bedroom in a wave of fire, coughing from the ash that followed. She looked around, and sighed in relief; nobody noticed she was gone.

"Where were you?" Her father stepped out into the light.

"Uh…"

"Don't lie Tuyet. Were you in the jungle?" Tuyet looked down, ashamed.

"How many times have I told you! Don't go out there! There are people out there who would want to kill you and take the throne!" He sighed. "Did you meet anyone out there?"

"Yes."

Quang turned his eyes wide. "Who?"

"Nico Pham. A village boy. His parents work in the rice fields."

His blood turned cold. "Nico Pham?" Tuyet nodded.

"I want you to resume your daily schedule. Please, Tuyet, don't ever leave the palace again."

"Yes Father." The kind swept out of the room and decided to visit the Pham family.

It was late at night when everyone retired to their beds, getting ready for a full day of work tomorrow. King Quang raced through the village and stopped at a hut near the river. A horse with dark eyes whinnied as he went past and knocked on the front door. It opened and Huong and Huy Pham stood at the door.

"My king!" They knelt, bowing low to him. "Do you need something?" The king nodded.

"Have you told Nico about the betrothal yet?" The couple shook their head, inviting Quang inside for a sip of jasmine tea. He sipped at the white ceramic cup, warm spices filling his stomach.

"Don't. I have a betrothal set up for my daughter. I don't want Tuyet to find out about anything." The couple nodded, not knowing that Bianca and Nico were at the corner, listening to every word the king spoke.


End file.
